ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Alone With the Beloved: the Words of ʿalī B. Al-Ḥusayn Inthe Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya CHAPTER 5: The Style and Themes in the Ṣaḥīfa Sajjādiyya Regrettably not much has been written on the aspect of style or the themes contained within the Ṣaḥīfa independently. The Arabic commentaries on the Ṣaḥīfa150 largely focus on the linguistic analysis of the terms and phrases used by the Imam ʿAlī b.

al-Ḥusayn in addition to supplementing the contents of the prayers with supporting reports by the Prophet and the Imams in the Shīʿa tradition.

In this respect the only contribution appears to be from Chittick in his introduction to the translation of the Ṣaḥīfa151 and Colin Turner's article on Prayers within the Twelver Shīʿa tradition.152 Padwick’s Muslim Devotions is, as described by Colin Turner, a magnum opus that covers the whole Muslim world in terms of the practise of prayers, yet is weakest when it comes to the subject of prayers within the Twelver Shīʿa tradition.153 Padwick does touch upon the Ṣaḥīfa but not independently, yet in fairness does cover certain themes contained within the Ṣaḥīfa in a more general sense.

Turner in his article has offered a broad sevenfold categorisation of prayers within the Twelver Shīʿ’a tradition;154 the prayers within Ṣaḥīfa generally fall into five of these genera. Chittick’s work, although brief, is insightful and very useful in acquainting the reader with the personal, spiritual and theological dimensions that run through the crosssection of the prayers.

Thus from Chittick’s introduction of describing the style of the Ṣaḥīfa and the category description given by Turner in his article together with a general understanding of prayers within the Muslim world by Padwick we have a very small nonetheless a very useful point of beginning into the study of the Ṣaḥīfa within the English language. Our analysis of the Ṣaḥīfa in what will follow will be to explore at both the general structure of the prayers and the content of the prayers.

As for the structure, we will look at the way in which the Imam generally begins and ends his prayers. In terms of the contents we will first look at the fundamental tenets that are present within the prayers such as the notion of Unity of God, Essential lack and Need inherent within the creatures, which forms the overall worldview of the Imam and determines the creature-God relationship.